Minutes
Campus Facilities Planning Committee
November 2, 2007

Present: Nancy Nusbaum, Betsy Blunk for Maria Canabal, Richard Cheatham, Kathi Rich for Carol Dochen, Ann Marie Ellis, Patrick Cassidy, Robert Olney, Robert Patton, Barbara Sanders, Glenn Hanley, Bill Rampy for Mark Hughes, Kim Porterfield, Rosanne Proite, Coyle Buhler, Pat Fogarty, Derek Grice, Ted Hindson, Stephen Marlow, Joe Meyer, Ralph Meyer, John Root, Tina Shultz, Ted Hinson, Chris Reynolds, Donna Selcer
Absent: Edna Rehbein, Micky Autrey, Rick Bishop, Chance Sparks, Terry Dowdy, Frank Gonzalez, Sandra Moody-West, Bogan Durr

Guest: Michael Abbott from River Systems Institute, Paul Hamilton from Auxiliary Services, Erik Nielsen from Art and Design, Michael Petty from OFPDC, Bob Seese from the International Office

Upgrade of Aquarena Hillside Trails – Dr. Michael Abbott
On behalf of the River Systems Institute, Dr. Michael Abbott requested recommendation to proceed with obtaining an engineering study needed for upgrading the Aquarena Hillside Trails and boardwalk in front of the Texas Rivers Center. The paths are currently closed because of condition and safety issues. Over 100,000 visitors walk through the Aquarena Center annually with approximately 40,000 of these visitors coming from school groups. Dr. Abbott handed out photos showing the location of the trails, renderings of what the upgraded trails would look like in front of Texas Rivers Center and extending into the hillside trails, and pictures of the current Texas Rivers Center sidewalks and wooded trails showing their state of disrepair. The cost estimate for the engineering study is expected to be $18,000. $12,000 of this cost can be covered from a Texas Parks & Wildlife grant. Dr. Abbott will discuss the additional funding need with the Provost and may bring a funding request back to the December meeting.

The Aquarena Center Master Plan was developed 8 years ago. During the last year and a half updates have been proposed to this master plan and it is currently being reviewed by the Provost. Changes to the master plan will require additional funding to complete all proposed projects. This trail upgrade will start the improvements to the western hillside of Spring Lake. The upgraded trails will be ADA compliant and will be lit mostly by existing lighting. Additional lighting throughout the Aquarena Center will be addressed upon implementation of the master plan. A motion to recommend pursuing the engineering study needed for the upgrades to the trails was presented and seconded with no objections from the committee members.

Request for Hillburn House and Renovation Needs from Dr. Oren Renick
The ENLACE/CSTEP project is being closed out and will no longer need to occupy the Hillburn House. Dr. Ruth Welborn has requested that the Service Learning Program headed by Dr. Oren Renick be relocated to the Hillburn House. Currently, the Service Learning Program is located in the Campus Christian Community Center but has outgrown their space. It is expected that three persons from the Long-Term Care Institute would also be moved to the Hillburn House, if approved, to free up space for the new nursing director and new nursing faculty in the Health Professions building. Renovations to the Hillburn House have been requested by Dr. Renick before the new occupants move in. These renovations would include a thorough cleaning and removal of unwanted furniture and equipment, constructing a single partition with a door, painting interior to update and brighten, checking adequacy of the lighting, exterior repairs around eaves (holes) and, securing and repairing skirting around building exterior to discourage rodents. The Facilities Committee also thought the parking situation should be reviewed and possibly upgraded to accommodate the number of new occupants. Ms. Nusbaum does not have a cost estimate for the proposed repairs.

The Facilities Committee recommended that President’s Cabinet approve the allocation of the Hillburn House space “as is” for use by the Service Learning Program and Long-Term Care Institute staff. Ms. Nusbaum will return the cost estimate to a future meeting for consideration by the Committee.

Request for Renovation of Hill House
Dr. Robert Seese from the International Office has requested funding to replace the carpet and paint four rooms and a hallway in the Hill House. The repairs have been estimated by Facilities to cost $16,000-18,000 and Dr. Seese is requesting funding from HEAF. The project has been approved by the Provost. Dr. Seese attended the Facilities Committee meeting to answer questions.

The committee thought the Campus Master Plan slated the demolition of the Hill House at a future date to add more campus green space. Ms. Nusbaum pointed out that this would be after the completion of the proposed State Street Parking Garage. It is thought that this structure will not be built before 2015, therefore, any renovation would have lots of use until the building is razed. Both Dr. Ann Marie Ellis and Dr. Robert Cheatham pointed out that their departments have discontinued use of the bedrooms for visiting professors or performers because of the outdated conditions of the bedrooms. If the space was renovated, it would be a great resource for the University to house visitors overnight or short-term.

The Facilities Committee had no objections to the renovations and Mr. Pat Fogarty volunteered to fund the renovations to the Hill House out of the deferred maintenance account.

Request from Art and Design
Dr. Erik Nielsen attended the meeting to request the placement of gravel in areas around the outside facility where papermaking occurs in the fibers program. Dr. Nielsen added that this particular activity requires a great deal of water to process the paper and causes a lot of water to accumulate around the area which results in muddy grounds and an unsightly situation. The cost is estimated to be $3,500. The Facilities Committee had no objections to making the needed repairs and Ms. Nusbaum recommended that the costs be paid from the academic renovation account.

Soccer Locker
Derek Grice and Don Coryell informed the Facilities Committee that a donor has stepped forward with funding for the construction of a locker room/team meeting facility on the West Campus for the soccer program. Mr. Grice and Mr. Coryell requested the committee’s support to move forward with a feasibility study, funded by the donor, to determine the best location and type of building to be constructed. Although this is not in the campus master plan, Mr. Grice thought this was a wonderful opportunity to improve the facility for the soccer teams and draw more students to the sport.

After some discussion regarding the deletion of some of the restricted parking spaces, Dr. Ann Marie Ellis moved to go forward with the feasibility study and suggested that a two story building be considered to save green space and as many parking spaces as possible. The move was seconded and no other objections were noted from the Facilities Committee.

Second Grant Proposal for Bike Path Funding
Mr. Paul Hamilton with Auxiliary Services discussed the second grant proposal submitted for funding construction of Phase II of the Bike Path Project. Mr. Hamilton handed out maps of the proposed bikeways that include City of San Marcos routes and routes shown in the Campus Master Plan along with the proposed Phase II bikeway route. Phase II would begin at the Tennis Courts at Peques Street and will travel across Sessom as an elevated bikeway/ pedestrian walkway to State Street. From there the proposed bikeway would traverse the hillside between Aqua Sports Center and Agriculture and the hillside along Sessom to Pleasant Street. The proposed bikeway would continue along both sides of Pleasant Street between Sessom and N. LBJ connecting to the bikeway being built as part of the N. LBJ bus loop project. Notification of the approval/ disapproval of the grant is expected to be received in April 2008 and construction of Phase II could begin in October or November 2008. Construction is required to be completed within two years from the time the grant contract is signed. Total cost of Phase II is estimated to be $800,000 and the University would have to provide a $168,000 match, only $88,000 of which will be cash.

Facility Committee members expressed thoughts that the elevated walkway would be a welcomed improvement for students crossing Sessom but also had concerns at the loss of parking of the Sessom Lot and along Pleasant Street. Mr. John Root committed funding the $88,000 from the bus account. It should be noted that should the grant be approved, it is dependent upon implementation of Phase I which will be designed in the near future to determine if the grant funding will be sufficient to proceed with the project.

IT Server Farm Update
Mr. Bill Rampy with IT Infrastructure Services discussed IT servers and the benefits of using centralized or consolidated servers. Mr. Rampy will email the Deans and Directors server information that can be passed on to their departments. Mr. Rampy handed out the layout of the JCK 7th Floor Data Center showing renovations previously endorsed by the Facilities Committee and approved by President’s Cabinet.

Request for renovation in Sterry Hall by Network Operations
Mr. Rick Bishop requested the existing wall in the front area of the Sterry Hall Network Operations office space be demolished and replaced with a glass wall and door that more closely matches the existing offices. The switchboard operator offices will be moved to this area. The request for a cost estimate was sent to Michael Petty on October 29, 2007. Network Operations has funds to cover the renovation costs. The Facilities Committee endorsed the renovations which are expected to be less than $5,000.

New Food Concept at Jones
Mr. John Root informed the Facilities Committee that a new food concept has been selected for Jones Dining Hall beginning in spring 2008. Stubb’s Bar-B-Q received unanimous endorsement from the Food Committee. The new menu will include salads, grilled food options and Bar-B-Q. There will also be a small stage area for live entertainment. The renovations will be funded from the dining services operating budget.

Report from October 15, 2007 President’s Cabinet Meeting
Ms. Nusbaum informed the Facilities Committee that President’s Cabinet approved all items recommended from the August and October 2007 meetings. Specific approved items included:

• Renovation and funding requested for Testing, Research-Support Center;
• Conversion of bedroom #3 in the Hill House into an office for a more private advising area for the International Office;
• Engineering & Technology’s request for installation of a wall between RFM 4231 and RFN 4232;
• Request for remodel of existing space and for funding from University Marketing;
• Allocation of first floor space in the Academic Services Building to University Seminar and University College; and
• Reallocation of Brazos 104 to the Center for the Study of the Southwest and the Center for Texas Music History.

Report from the City of San Marcos
Chance Sparks was unable to attend this month’s meeting; however, he emailed a list of items to share with the committee:

• The “Topping Out” Ceremony for the Embassy Suites Hotel/City of San Marcos Conference Center, scheduled for November 2, signifies the addition of the 10th and final floor for the new Embassy Suites Hotel. A brief ceremony, placement of a live tree on the top floor, a safety luncheon for construction workers, and guided tours of the project are on the program.
• Completion of the Embassy Suites Hotel/City of San Marcos Conference Center is still scheduled for October 2008. Ms. Nusbaum recently met with the Director of Sales to discuss a conference she will host in January 2009. Ms. Nusbaum also distributed a brochure showing the accommodations, recreation and services offered by the hotel and the convention center floor plan along with space and meeting facilities information.
• The City should be finishing designs soon for the infrastructure improvements on Hutchison, Guadalupe and LBJ Streets between the University and courthouse square. This will include streetscape elements and is a step toward improving pedestrian connections between the University and courthouse square advocated in the Campus Master Plan and several of the City’s plans. Chance will try to bring some schematics or renderings to share at the December meeting.
• The City is in the process of planning Downtown Master Plan meetings on November 27-29th. The meetings will involve charette-style activities for the first two days. Then on the evening of the last day, the City is planning another large meeting similar to the one held in September for City Council, Texas State University Council, SMCISD, Hays County, etc... At this point the consultants will be moving beyond the larger concepts and presenting more detailed information and potential implementation measures for the Downtown Master Plan. These dates are still tentative. Chance will follow up with actual dates once they are set.

Chance would be happy to present a presentation on all active significant development projects in San Marcos at a future meeting is this would be helpful to the Committee. The Committee supported his offer.

Utilization numbers
Ms. Nusbaum shared Texas State’s overall utilization rate of 93.3% of the Coordinating Board standard for the 173 classrooms for fall 2007. Removing the RRHEC classrooms from the calculations, Texas State has 152 main campus classrooms in use for fall 2007 with a utilization rate of 101.5% of the CB standard. Texas State’s class lab utilization is 129.2% of the CB standard. There are no class labs at Round Rock. Chris Reynolds is currently working on the utilization report that will be shared with the Committee, Chairs, Deans, and President’s Cabinet.

ASBN Available Space
Ms. Nusbaum recently emailed the Committee regarding the space vacated by University Seminar (4th floor) and the Athletic Advising Center (2nd floor) in ASBN that will be available for allocation once these departments move to the new Undergraduate Academic Center. Floor plans were included in the email. Committee members were asked to share the information with their departments to determine if anyone else on campus has need for the space. Ms. Nusbaum has already received a proposal from the Writing Center.

Preliminary Bobcat Trail Rendering
Ms. Nusbaum pointed to the preliminary renderings displayed on the wall showing the proposed changes to Bobcat Trail.

Landscape Proposals at 3 Locations on Campus
Ms. Nusbaum also pointed out drawings displayed on the wall showing the landscape proposals funded from Campus Master Plan Improvement funds for the following campus locations:

• Water tower proposed enclosure at the Jackson Water Well;
• Landscaping around the Student Health Center; and
• Improvements to the planting areas at the Roy F Mitte Technology & Physics Building, Joann Cole Mitte Art Building and the Jerome & Catherine Supple Science Building.

Update on Construction Projects
Coyle Buhler emailed the Committee members the October 2007 Project Status Report for their review prior to this meeting.

Request from Biology/Environmental Health
Changes have been requested to the existing hydrofluoric acid vent hood located in Supple Science 313 that is used by Garland Upchurch to eliminate any potential safety hazards. The estimated cost is $54,000-65,000. Mr. Fogarty was concerned as to where funding would come from. Ms. Nusbaum recommended that the costs could be split between other institutional and safety funds. The request will come back to the Facilities Committee December meeting for further review. (Note: Mr. Fogarty agreed to fund from the Life Safety HEAF account.)

Changes to the Space Allocation Request Form
Ms. Ann Marie Ellis requested that the parking impact of a proposed project be added to Space Allocation Request Form. Ms. Nusbaum has other changes to the form and will present a new form for the Committee members’ approval at a future meeting.

December Facilities Committee Meeting is scheduled for December 7th from 9:00 – 11:00 am at JCK in the 11th floor Reed Parr room.